Dhahran British Grammar School Expedition 2006

30 March

The last day.  In many ways this was a bonus day caused by the lack of good flight connections when we booked.  I am not complaining, for I never want to go home at the end of our expeditions. Today we took speedboats out to Manukan Island, a small tropical island in the South China Sea, just off the coast from Kota Kinabalu.  It was a beautiful place, surrounded by crystal clear waters and fringed, like the best of clichés, with palm trees.  This was a lazy day spent snorkelling amongst the most vivid of tame fish, eating our way through a mountainous beach barbeque and steadily getting burned to a crisp in the shallow waters.  The full extent of the sunburn didn’t really show itself until later in the day.

First to fall victim to overcooking was Jacob.  As we gathered in reception at the Beverley Hotel shortly before heading out to dinner, Jacob said that he felt light headed.  As he stumbled, Mark and I propped him up and then escorted him back to his room.  Now Jacob is a big guy.  Holding a swaying Jacob was no mean feat, but when he fainted there was no hope.  He took Mark and I down with him and for a moment or two we were all sprawled on the floor, half in, half out of the lift. James was next to fall, although we managed to get him to bed without any drama. Adrian stayed in to look after them, whilst the rest of us headed to town for more pre-dinner shopping.

At our last night, prize-giving dinner it was all some of the students could do to stay awake.  A combination of two weeks of hard travelling, walking and climbing had worn them out.  On top of that, badly sunburned backs and dehydration had taken their toll.  Still, it was an amusing and pleasant evening.  Next time perhaps they will all remember that factor 45 sun cream just isn’t strong enough when you have the Malaysian sun to contend with.

The flight home went off without incident, and for once we even arrived at school on time.  Another fantastic expedition! 

Next year?  China.